


Blindsided

by Kittyswriting



Series: All Time Lows [2]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel 616, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Abusive howard, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Thor Is a Good Bro, a little platonic Thorki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-04-03 17:31:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4109185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittyswriting/pseuds/Kittyswriting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part two of All Time Lows. After finding out about how Howard abused Tony, Steve spends the night in the gym punching out his aggression and dealing with the news.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blindsided

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I finally got inspired to write part 2 of this series. This is not Howard friendly, and it's mostly going to be based on Iron Man: Legacy of Doom and the Marvel 616 continuity. If you haven't read the comics all you need to know is that Howard was physically and emotionally abusive to Tony throughout his life.  
> A little Thorki in this part but it's platonic and brotherly.  
> Also thank you to everyone who has sent me messages or kudos about part 1 I'm excited to see where this series goes.  
> Word prompt: protect.

It was at night when Steve finally let off some steam. He'd spent the rest of the day with Tony, holding his boyfriend and making sure he was otherwise okay. None of the other Avengers had come to talk to them yet but he had no doubts that they would have questions soon enough. Most of them would have seen it by now, the only one that probably hasn't would be Thor, and that's only because he's still on Asgard.

After Tony had fallen asleep, Steve decided to take the time to take out his emotions on a couple of punching bags. He couldn't help but feel like he failed Tony, he may not have been there when Howard hurt Tony but he was here now and he had failed to protect Tony from the media. It was out there, everyone knew and while Steve was happy that people were no longer singing Howard's praise he was angry that Tony had to pay for it. Tony was a private person, he hated that people had discovered his past and he knew his boyfriend was scared about people asking him about it.

And Steve knew he couldn't protect Tony from what would happen next, he could only be there for him. He knew Tony could look after himself, but he was Tony's boyfriend, he loved Tony. The want to just take him and shield him from everything was so strong.

A few hours into him destroying the punching bags Thor came in, that surprised Steve. Thor wasn't scheduled to be back from Asgard for a few days yet. "Thor, I didn't know you were back yet."

"Indeed, I received word from our friends that my presence was needed here." Thor said approaching Steve.

"You can leave just like that?" Steve asked before throwing another punch.

"Father agreed to it." Thor said in a way that suggested while Odin may have agreed to it but he probably didn't like it. It was no secret that Odin didn't like the amount of time Thor spent on Earth, Thor said a few times that his father believed he should be spending more time at home on Asgard.

"You saw the news then?" Steve knew that the only reason the other Avengers would tell Thor he was needed was that. Especially considering they had no big threat that would need Thor to return this early.

"I was told of it by Banner yes." Thor said carefully.

Steve paused for a moment thinking of what to say before he decided to just go back to punching the bag.

"Captain, you cannot blame yourself for this."

"I don't! I just....Things are going to happen, they'll be questions and people will want to know the truth, and I can't protect him from that. I can't protect him, and I see him getting so upset and there's nothing I can do." Steve yelled sending one last punch to the bag sending it crashing into the wall.

"I understand the pain on not being able to protect the people you love, you feel like you have failed in your duty. But Anthony is very strong, and he has you by his side. He has all of us by his side, we will not ask questions or talk about it unless he brings it up to us. Right now it is you I am more concerned about Captain." Thor said as Steve put a new bag on the hook.

"Me? I am not the one whose private life got aired on national television."

"Perhaps not, but as I have come to understand it you and this man were friends and his son is now your lover. You are conflicted anyone can see that, I understand your feelings well." Thor said placing a hand on Steve's shoulder.

"How can you possibly understand what I am going through?" Steve said sounding angry but his face softened when he noticed the look of pain on Thor's face.

"When I was young and more foolish I had another friend. He was a strong warrior and fitted in well with my other friends. I was not aware that he was hurting someone I knew, someone that at the time looked up to me. I always said I would protect them, that it was my duty to do so. They tried to tell me about what he was doing and I didn't listen, they never looked at me the same way. It may be different to your own circumstances Captain, but I do know what it's like to fail in protecting someone you care about." Thor said his grip tightening on Mjölnir.  
"What happened in the end?" Steve asked he was curious over who this person was even though he had a fairly good idea.

"I'm not entirely sure, father said he had dealt with it. But the damage had been done already."  
Steve decided to trust his gut then. "You ever talk about it with Loki?"

Thor looked surprise for a moment, but then nodded. "I guess I am more obvious than I first thought."

Steve shook his head. "Not really, I just couldn't imagine Odin stepping in unless it was either you or Loki."

"Aye, that is true. To answer your question...I tried to talk to Loki but he did not wish to hear my excuses. Sometimes I wonder if Loki was truly meant to be on this path or whether it was merely influenced by the events of our childhood. It might be hard to imagine now, but as a child Loki was very sweet. He loved his tricks sure, but they were never mean or malicious." Thor sighed looking at Steve.

"I can believe that, I've always been brought up to believe that people no matter how bad they seem were all once good and that something happened to make them feel the need to hurt people. Just look at Tony's father, he was a good man when I knew him. I never would have thought he was capable of hurting a child, let alone his own."

"And now?"

"Now I wish I could go back in time to punch him in the face. I would try to save Tony, protect him from his father. But I can't so now I just have to be there for him." Steve said sighing and undoing the boxing gloves he had on.

"We cannot change the past but we can learn from it and try to have a better future. The Man of Iron is strong, and he has you. I am not worried for either of you my friend. It might not be easy, but I have faith in you." Thor said smiling for the first time since he came here.

Steve thought about Thor's words and nodded. "Speaking of Tony I think I'm going to go make sure he's okay." Steve said before he grabbed his gym bag and made his way up to his and Tony's shared room.

He always thought that when they moved in together they'd be moving into Tony's penthouse, and it would actually be planned. However Tony ended up moving into Steve's room, and neither of them really planned it. They both just looked around one day and noticed that most of Tony's things were in Steve's room. They moved in together without ever realizing they had.  
When he got into the room he smiled seeing that Tony was still asleep. He knew Tony suffered pretty badly from insomnia, going days with only one or two hours sleep. Tony often said that his brain was just too loud for him to shut off.

Steve dropped his bag on the floor and sat on the bed, brushing Tony's hair back he smiled to himself. Tony really did mean so much to Steve, he never expected to feel this way about anyone. He loved Tony with every piece of his heart, and even though he knew that Tony could take care of himself he still wanted to protect him. He thought that maybe that's what love was truly about, loving someone's faults and knowing they can look after themselves but wanting to protect them anyway because you know they've had to protect themselves for so long and in Tony's case all alone.

"I love you, Tony." He said softly before he turned away and started taking off his shoes and shirt.

"I love you too."

The all too familiar voice made Steve turn his attention back to Tony. "I thought you were asleep?"

"I was mostly asleep." Tony said softly stretching a bit. "I woke up about twenty minutes ago, JARVIS told me where you were."

"I'm sorry Tony, I just needed to..."

"Beat the shit out of something? It's okay, Steve. I knew after I told you about what Howard did to me that you'd need to get out some aggression. Are you alright now?" Tony asked sitting up.

"I'm fine, Tony. You should be focusing on yourself." Steve said but couldn't help from smiling, this was exactly why he had fallen so hard for Tony. Even with everything that was happening Tony was still more concerned with how Steve was feeling.

"I can't.... I've dealt with this my whole life, just please Steve? Let me worry about you." Tony said softly as Steve got into bed next to him.

"It's going to be okay. You know that right?"

"Steve, I know this will blow over eventually. But everyone will know what my father did to me..... Unless I deny it." Tony said his voice was so low at the end that if it wasn't for the super serum Steve wasn't sure he'd have heard it.

"You can't be thinking of denying this? Denying what he did to you?" Steve couldn't believe it, Tony couldn't do that.

"I have to. The company would barely survive that kind of publicity, Howard was a terrible father but a great businessman and a great scientist. Stark Industries could stand to lose a lot if it came out that Howard was a child abuser."

"But he was, he abused you, Tony. You shouldn't have to defend a guy like that." Steve couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"If I don't deny it Steve, then it might only cause us more problems and more father has caused me enough problems, I don't need him to cause me more now he's dead. People looked up to my father, he was a brilliant scientist. Admitting he beat me as a kid isn't going to make me feel better, but there's a risk it could damage the company and I'm not about to let anyone get hurt because of him. Not anymore, please Steve? I need your support on this." Tony's eyes expressed just how deeply Tony felt about all of this. Steve sighed softly before reaching out to wrap his arms around Tony.

"I don't like this, I hate the idea of you going out there and protecting Howard. But I will always support you Tony. Even when I don't like it, you have my support." Steve said kissing the top of Tony's head.

"I don't like it either, I don't want to deny it. I spent my whole life making up excuses for him, but I refuse to let the company I worked so hard for suffer because someone brought up the past." Tony said snuggling closer to Steve.

"Baby...."

"I have to do this Steve, admitting it will do nothing for me, it won't help me. But if I don't deny it than other people that look up to my father might stop believing in the company. Young scientists that I meet who tell me Howard was an inspiration to them might lose hope, I am not going to destroy that." Tony said his voice determined. When Tony made up his mind like this there was really no changing it.

He didn't agree with Tony's reasons, he couldn't. Not when Tony was willingly protecting someone who caused him so much pain. But he wasn't going to let Tony do this alone, if Tony was going to do this then he'd be doing it with Steve right by his side. "I don't like the idea of you denying what he did to you. But I love you, and if this is what you feel you have to do then I'm going to support you. You're not alone baby."

Tony bit his lip and nodded thinking about Steve's words. "I love you too, Steve. Thank you for always being here for me."

"I always will be." Steve said softly before leaning forward to kiss the top of Tony's head. "I never want you to doubt for even a minute that I wouldn't be here for you."

Tony didn't say anything else, he just held onto Steve a little bit tighter and prayed he was making the right choice.


End file.
